How to Wash All Your Laundry in One Day

With this method, you can get all your laundry out of the way for the entire week. You won’t have to think about it again. It will be folded all at once saving you plenty of time and energy. And your little ones can join in the fun and learn some life skills at the same time.

Things you will need:

A timer (a basic kitchen timer will do or set up a reminder/alarm on your phone)

7 + pairs of clothes for each person in your family (to last a week between washings. We have 7-8 outfits per person with a few extra for the kids for those messes that always come!)

Several sturdy laundry baskets (different colored baskets is nice for sorting for each child or bedroom)

A fun family movie to watch while you fold the laundry together

And the willingness to move quickly

Start first thing on the desired day of chose. I personally prefer Monday morning as it helps give a nice jump into my week. After I am dressed and ready for the day, I get to the laundry room. Begin by hauling all your laundry to your laundry room and sort by colors. Whites (simplify by including white sheets and towels) coloreds, darks (to this jean load I add dark towels) towels (separating bath towels, kitchen towels, and cleaning clothes). I also have a load of cloth diapers. Begin your first load.

This is key: Set your timer for 1 hour. (the Reminders app on the iPhone/touch device works very nice because you can easily change the time with the same reminder throughout the day, but any timer will do).

Continue with your regularly scheduled program.

When your timer goes off, immediately transfer your load into the dryer and add the next load into the wash. Hang any delicate clothes to dry as needed (we hang all my husband and my shirts and dresses and our cloth diapers). Dry clean only clothes can easily be washed in a delicate cycle and then hung to dry.

Include your kiddos in the process. They love transferring clothes from washer to dryer, and sorting clothes teaches them colors and patterns. Plus they are learning basic life skills!

Repeat your timer for 1 hr.

Continue this cycle until all your clothes have made their way through the system. In this manner you can wash upwards of 10 loads a day. I currently wash 6-8 loads every Monday for our family of five.

Lastly, at the end of your day you will have a huge mound of wonderfully clean laundry! Don’t get overwhelmed. Embrace it. It means you are warm and well clothed and God is supplying all your needs.

Have fun with your folding load by snuggling up as a family and watching a fun family movie together (we are currently enjoying Little House on the Prairie). Include everyone in the folding process. Even the little ones can fold towels and help sort into the individual colored baskets. Having a colored basket for each person or room can make the restocking drawers/closets process much easier.

Once clothes are folded and sorted, deliver them to their destinations. You may wish to unload the next morning as we often do. Don’t worry about ironing. That can wait till the next day. If you have a husband like mine, he would appreciate it ironed and hung in a timely fashion. It is just one way to show him I love him without a word.

That is our basic process of washing all our laundry in one day! It leaves us with a clean laundry room for 5-6 days out of the week and our clothes are clean and we don’t have to worry about staying on top of laundry all week long. Just one little way to simplify my life.

It’s really not so crazy after all…do you think? I’ve been following this method since we were married and it continues to work with 3 busy kiddos! A precious moment saved to be used to invest in something more important.

And don’t worry…if it doesn’t work for you, then don’t stress. There is grace for your laundry pile! It will surely get done when it is needed.

Note: We do prefer to hang out all our laundry when possible to conserve electricity, but that is really only doable in the summer months here as it rains throughout the rest of the year. We also usually wash a second load of cloth diapers sometime later in the week for our baby.

About Lindsay

Lindsay Edmonds is first a lover of Jesus, wife, mother of three, homemaker, and writer. She is the editor of Passionate Homemaking since its beginning five years ago. She loves inspiring women around the world toward simple, natural, and intentional living for the glory of God.

134 Responses to How to Wash All Your Laundry in One Day

Are American washing machines really small? I thought I was an obsessive clothes washer, because I give the kids clean clothes most days, but our family of four only generates one or two washes a week at most. We adults do re-wear until clothes get sweaty or dirty, usually two or three days. I do a second wash if I need to wash coats or delicates. Otherwise, I wash it all together very hot to get it really clean, hang it to dry on a ceiling rack, and take down an outfit from the rack for next morning every evening. No sorting, no dryer, no folding, no ironing, not much need for a wardrobe. Takes about ten minutes. What am I not doing?

I like the drying rack idea with picking a new outfit in the evening for next day use. Are you in a warm area where you don’t need to have a dryer? I think we have good sized washers and dryers here, we just fail to be efficient and Eco-friendly!

This is a great idea… but a word of wisdom for those who have septic tanks and live in the country… This is a no-can-do! This will kill a septic tank. We were just told by the septic man that “there’s no such thing as a wash day with a septic tank.” Yes, front loaders are best as they use less water, but he still says, one load in the AM and one load in the PM. Just wanted to let you know.

I set a timer for a lot of chores. Especially on those days when pulling myself away from the internet is tough.

Hi Shelley, I hate to call out your septic tank man; but that is just not true. I’ve lived in different homes with septic tanks all my life and we have ALWAYS done one wash day a week with no problems, EVER. Granted, it may or may not have been the same day every week, but always just once a week and anywhere from 6 to 8 loads on wash day. Unless your septic system is extremely small, once a week washing is not a problem for septic systems.

Any quick tips for dealing with poopy clothes?? Poop explosions always seem to happen at the worst times! It’s difficult to stay on top of, and they end up in the utility sink for days… the stains are SO DIFFICULT to get out!!! This is my #1 source of housekeeping frustration.

I know I am WAY late to this party, but this method can work, with minor adjustments, even without a dryer. We have a dryer but try not to use it when possible. Winter before last, the 7 of us lived in 450 sq ft without a dryer at all. Thankfully we had a woodstove and two drying racks, they just had to be shifted around from time to time

Anyway, when I have all my ducks in a row, we take each load out of the washer as soon as it has finished spinning and someone takes it out to the line while I start the next load in the wash. Then my helper and I hang the clean load while the next one washes. Hanging usually takes 10 minutes or less while washing takes 30. So we have time for a lesson or a load of dishes while the washer finishes its business. If I start with the heaviest items so they have the longest time to dry, we can usually get everything dry before the sun goes down (in the summer) or if it’s forecast to be dry all night I will leave them until the next day. Generally the folding gets saved for a massive session the next day.

In order to have more room on the clothes lines and racks I will hang lightweight clothes on hangers and put them on the shower curtain rod and the chin-up bar That way they’re already on their hangers. I just carry them to their closets when they’ve dried.

Reading your post and writing this up makes me realize that I really need to get back into this pattern. It can’t always be the same day of the week when you’re using clotheslines exclusively, but usually it doesn’t take too awfully long to get a dry day here, even in the winter time. And thankfully we do have a dryer, so if we must do a load of undies and socks, they can be thrown in and tumbled dry in an hour.

Question: What do you do with laundry that is wet or has food on it to keep it from getting moldy during the week?

I’m trying a new system for my laundry based on your ideas, but since I use drying racks and a laundry line it will have to be a little different. I’m going to do loads of laundry based on how I put them away- 1st load for daddy’s clothes, next load for mommy, next load for the oldest child, etc…

I liked the timer idea and the fact about 7 outfits per person. I never thought of that. I really struggle with laundry, that is the worst chore ever! LOL. I will scrub a toilet any day over laundry. I know…I’m weird…it’s just me, LOL.

Thank you! Something as simple as a timer can make my laundry go from days to one day!! Ohh….i cant tell you how happy I am! And I have our oldest daughter put her clothes away as part of her “chores” but I like the idea of having her help, even the two year old can fold towels. Im actually looking forward to our next laundry day!

I read this back when you posted it and have been doing it ever since with great results! I have three kids and my oldest two, 8 and 5, fold and put away their own clothes. It has been so freeing to have my laundry done on Monday for the entire week! Just wanted to thank you for this post. Your blog is a great resource and I really appreciate the time you put into it!

Thanks for the inspiration! I am definitely going to tackle our laundry in one day this week! I’ve been a little overwhelmed with how to get it all done since having our first baby last year. They generate so much laundry!

If only I could do this with my dishes (I don’t have a dishwasher). LOL I used to do this with our laundry but for me it just didn’t work. I found it depressing to be faced with load after load of laundry that day. On top of that, I almost always have to do a load of sheets since I have two bed wetters. Anyways, I found that what works for me is using a sorting system (mesh bags with a stand) throughout the week. As soon as there is enough in a bag for a load of laundry I stick that in first thing in the morning and finish it around noon. My 8 year old is now doing laundry on her own too so that helps. We pay commission allowances, so she gets so much money for each completed (washed, dried, folded, put away) load she does. It’s helped out greatly in staying on top of all our laundry.

With laundry at home this is usually what i have done, but in the past… We didn’t have laundry at home so we would go to a large laundry mat. With our laundry pre sorted we would put it all in the washers (5-6 loads) then it would all be ready for the dryer around the same time, take a wet bag for the ones you want to hang, as the loads would finish drying there was usually enough time to fold each one before the next was ready. Voila!!! 6 loads in under 3 hours, We trypically could make it 2 weeks between trips (small family) and it usually cost about $15 total. Do you have a laundry mat next to the grocery store? Team up and tackle both!!!

What a great post! You really understand the little struggles that pile up and create stress in the life of a mother. Now I only have to worry one day a week about doing my laundry instead of dreading it for three days to forget about it for two. Thanks for the great tips!

I am taking the challenge! I was doing laundry one load per day, and I seemed to always get behind. I’d either forget it in the wash, dryer, or not fold it all. I just started cloth diapering our LO, so I may have to wash those during the week, but aside from that, I think it might work for us! I chose Monday as the day, and started today. I am finishing things up as I type, but I like the idea of not having to do it all week long! No more laundry getting moved from place to place or digging for matching items when I would get behind. Also, I just simplified my DD’s clothes. I got rid of more than half of them, and gifted them via freecycle. This greatly helped. I may post an update and let you know how it all turns out. Thanks for the idea and the ‘permission’ to skip laundry all week long!

Okay, this is my second week doing this, and I just wanted to come back and say that it was SO nice to focus on other things all week long aside from laundry. Who knew?! Anyway, I guess I always thought laundry was a daily thing, and I almost felt like I ‘broke the rules’. However, as the week and weekend rolled on, and all was clean and ironed, I felt almost giddy at how much else I could do! I think I was even less stressed because of it. You see, my dh is an assistant minister and our weekends are BUSY! He needs his dress shirts and slacks ready to go for every church activity. I would always fall behind for some reason or other, and there I would be rushing to get that evening’s clothes ready. It may be a simple idea, but I truly had not considered it. I imagined us all running out of clean clothes after ‘slaving’ a whole day to get it done, and STILL running behind. I am so pleased with the results and to finally have a system that works for us. I just invested in a bunch more inserts for my ds’s cds, and I am hoping to get more time in between those washes as well.
Thank you, Lindsay for this tidbit! It has ‘revolutionized’ my week!

I have always washed our clothes once a week. I usually do it on Mondays, but I have changed to Fridays or Saturdays. I have two off at college and when they come home I do it on Saturdays. Fridays if they don’t. I love getting it over and done with. I have to admit though, sometimes I do forget about the last load in the drier. lol

I just found your blog and am enjoying reading it. I have always had my own washer and dryer until we just recently moved and had to use the laundro-mat in town… this actually turned out to be so much fun and so easy that we decided not to even buy a washer and dryer, as we are in a rental and they would have to go in the cold basement anyways… the laundro-mat is in our down town area only a one minute drive from our house, easy walking distance but with all the laundry, we drive. I only have to do laundry once a week because they have HUGE washers and dryers that do several loads and of course you can use as many washers as you want! I usually go and wash, which takes 25 mins, sit and read while they wash or talk on the phone with a friend, which I never get to do! Then I put them drying for about 50 minutes and drive home, hang out with the family, or sometimes they come with me and we all walk around town, which is very fun.. my son loves the laundro-mat because of his book “Knufflebunny” by Mo Willems! When they are done drying I pick them up and bring them home for us to all fold together. Nice clean laundry for a whole week, I love it! I do hand wash some things during the week as well, delicates, etc. but I just love that I don’t have to do laundry every day and that it takes so little time at the laundro-mat, and it’s really not much money either!

I work FT and with 2 little ones have been fortunate enough to stretch doing laundry to once every 10 to 14 days. We have a ton of hand me downs and it forces me to wear everything in my closet!. It was an adjustment at first, but now I’ll never go back to daily laundry!

I agree with Carrie. I have 2 under 2 and work full time. Saturday is laundry day at our house and if not then it gets done on sunday when the hydro is cheeper. I will only line dry my clothes in the summer and in the winter I am going to set up two drying racks infront of our wood stove so that we don’t have to use the dry if at all possible. I am lucky enough that my kids have tones of hand me downs so that we have a good supply of clothes during the week.

I am glad it works for you! All I can think is that we would be spending twice as much money on clothes if we went with this method. I do not have that many outfits for my family! So I won’t be trying it. I honestly do not mind the laundry all that much…I do a load when a hamper gets full, we have three hampers: whites, colors and dress/husband work clothes. So I never have to sort… My boys know how to do that now, and they are a huge help switching it from the washing machine to the dryer and emptying the dryer for me, sorting socks, folding some items. I think if someone is turned off by the idea you need that many clothes they can be encouraged by the fact it can still be a family event. And not all the burden falls on Mommy.

I have done this and LOVE it…. It does feel better just to get it done and out of the way. Enlisting the kids….and hubbies help…well, it just didn’t seem like much of a chore!! Thanks for the motivation to do something different. Laundry is my least favorite chore-I think the never ending nature of it!!! Thanks so much…and just being so utterly thankful we have so much to fold-well, that is convicting enough!! Powerful!

I would love to be able to do laundry only 1 day a week! But with a family of seven, 2 in cloth diapers, 2 others in sports needing their practice jerseys washed bi-weekly, and only a limited number of pants per person (we only have 3-4 pairs each), it’s not just not realistic. I am happy if I am able to skip doing laundry for one day! But I do remember the days of having only a child or two, disposable diapers, ample clothing per person, and being able to get all the laundry done in one day! Ah, the luxury!

i also would never want to do laundry all in one day.. i find it way too overwhelming that way! i generally do one load a day (some days its 2 with diapers) i put it in before bed, switch when i wake up and put away a load in like 3 minutes… i think the biggest time saver is having a limited number of outfits and a family closet. all our clothes are in one room… so fast to put it all away when you step between dressers in 2 seconds flat! once you hit a yr in our house you have 4 plus a dressy outfit (or maybe 2) thus meaning that all of our clothes (5 ppl are in 3 dressers. one drawer each plus a shared “lounge” drawer for husband and i and a shared pj drawer for kidlets. but i find putting away 2/3/4 loads takes over an hr. much more time efficient for us!

Hey! I was wondering… we cloth diaper my 4 month old son… we end up doing one load of laundry about every other or every day… Which isn’t all bad since it keeps the laundry up to date with just a little time invested in it each day… but how can you stand the diaper pail waiting 3 or 4 days to wash? What do you use for a detergent/smell reducer for your clothe diapers? any help would be MUCH appreciated!

Thanks for this, Lindsay! I used to wash all the laundry on Mondays but slacked off around the holidays and hadn’t been motivated to do it since. I got back in the habit again today and am so relieved that I’m almost done with laundry for the week! Thank you for the motivation and helpful hints!

thanks for the tips on what to do with the large pile of laundry, I have great folders, but these are great tips (family movie and folding party comment) to generate enthusiasm.
-I wash delicates/items-to-hang in the first load, often they dry at days end

I try to do it all on Mondays…Thursday is my overflow day. It helps just having a system. I remember reading about your once a week strategy last year sometime & implemented it…I love just having a plan for laundry. It helps so much! Thanks!

thanks for this post. it’s hard to keep up with a normal routine of one load per day sometimes. and then the laundry piles up quick! this is a great tactic for getting it under control quick:) i agree how it’s huge for me to have the right atmosphere when doing some serious household work, a candle burning and pandora playing is what does it at our house. thanks!

It just wouldn’t work for us because I try not to use the dryer. So I have to wait all afternoon for them to dry on the rack by the woodstove before I can dry more. And I have cloth diapers to be washed every 3 days.

I am kind of envious of your system, though! And I sure do need to figure out some sort of folding system for our family. It’s always stacking up….

I have three kiddos as well and this system works great for me. I have been doing it this way for over a year now. I am sure it does save me time because all my loads are full which is also good for the environment too Can’t wait till they get home on a Friday to get their school uniforms washed! Then all the laundry is washed and dried and in the drawers before the weekend starts – yay

Although I also do one wash on a Monday for bed linen but that isn’t to dfficult and doesn’t get in the way of my day.

That’s a great idea! I’m not sure it would work here in Australia, where we don’t have a dryer and have limited hanging space…well, it would on very hot days, but otherwise it can take some time for one load to dry. However, I am looking for a more efficient way to do laundry as I seem to have so much even with just one child that I’m doing it nearly every day – he’s in a messy stage and we’re doing cloth diapers so that’s probably where it’s coming from. Maybe I could try 2x week…..

Wish I could do this but my hubs and I only have 2 pairs of pants and cannot buy more right now. So I just rewear my pants for the week but I have to wash hubs every other day due to the nature of his work. Hope things turn around soon but trying to be grateful we at least have clothes.

I think the important thing for all of us, is to find what works for us and our family. It does not take very much time at all to do a load or two a day, and it takes way too much time and energy for me to do it all at once, its very overwhelming to me. Also I dont have the storage to keep more than a load or two, once I am at two loads we are into a mess, so this keeps thing tidy too!

I’m glad you have a system that works well for you! I finally started doing laundry every day instead of waiting until one day and it feels much more manageable to me now. I just throw in a load first thing in the morning and then do another 1-2 before nap time. I got so overwhelmed doing loads and loads and loads of laundry that it often never got folded and put away. I wish we only had 6-8 loads/week. I do at least 2/day which means we have 14 loads of laundry/week – how is that possible? We have the same # of people in our house as you do. I’m counting clothes, towels and sheets (we also only use cloth rags in our kitchen – no paper towels).

Yep, we love doing ours all at once. A few ideas: start a batch the night before or soak really dirty ones overnight in the washer to get a jump on your day. We buy most of our clothes used, so any color that’s going to bleed, has likely already done so, so sorting by color is really unnecessary. If I have new garments in the batch, I throw in a cup or so of vinegar (can use salt too) to set the color and they won’t fade after that. We have a family of 6 (kids 4mo-6) and each hamper makes a batch (boys, baby/toddler, hubby/me, kitchen/towels). I also have the kids put their socks in a mesh garment bag, which keeps them contained and reduces lost ones. We wash on Thursday and I hang them to dry in the house (we live in rainy Washington) on 3 racks so we fold and put away on Friday to have everything done by the weekend. The 2, 4, & 6 year old hang their own and fold and put away their own and do a great job, most of the time! (it’s pretty humorous to see how they do it, boy style) The 2 yr old also folds wash clothes, 4 yr old does cloth napkins, and the 6 year old does diapers. It’s actually my funnest job, so I look forward to it each week, unlike dishes ;(

This is what we do too. All the laundry in one day for our family of 4. I do try and fold as soon as they come of the dryer so they won’t be as wrinkled. Usually the laundry gets put away on the same day, but sometimes I don’t get it until the next. I usually do it on a day when my husband is home and he helps with the folding and staying on top of moving things around.